Like this:

I believe I am called to influence culture. I don’t see myself as a ministry person. I see myself as someone living life in a different way, standing out from the world’s way of doing things because I am choosing the kingdom way however unpopular it is.

I want to change the way women view themselves.

I want to change the way men view themselves too.

I want to change the way people do themselves. If you start renewing your mind daily even subconsciously, it would be progress.

I am always n the look out for progress however little it may seem, I imagine I am Elijah’s servant looking out for the cloud that would bring the first rain in three and a half years, na so.

Sometimes i wonder if putting this up actually makes a difference.

Those are the times of discouragement that don’t really last for me because I knw

I go in search of encouragement

Great people encourage themselves. I believe that you are greatness undiscovered Take your identity back. God knows who you are better than you know yourself…

I believe that you can change the world

God trusts you. You need to trust Him too.

The only way I can change the world is if I believe that I can. The only way I am ever going to change the world is if I believe that I can. I can even change my own piece of earth even if that amounts to just 12 people or 30 people or 1000 people or 10,000 people or 1 million people. The key thing is to believe that it starts with one person.

As a Christian, the fastest way to change someone else is to change you first. As a Christian, the fastest way to change someone else is to surrender yourself so the Holy Spirit can work transformation, His special brand of, “do this”, “No not that”, “Go to this place”, “Be here”, “No, I don’t want you here” brand and His knack of showing you decisions and outcomes of the decisions and seeing what you choose. See, it is still your choice but He’s leading you and yet leaving you to make the right choices. Bah! Who am I to complain? He’s good. Too good.

Romans 12:2 seems easy but it is not because it calls on you to deny yourself. To surrender. First it is the power to say the words, “I surrender to You, Jesus” then it is the power to act out that surrender daily. The word says “His commandments are not grievous” and so I will be going with His word.

I watched this video about consent and ii am going to share it. I realize that Nigerians are people who have a culture that makes talking about sex difficult but this video makes it easy. You get to talk about sex without talking about it. There, I said it.

My position is of course, a huge NO. Premarital sex is a huge no.

I once listened to a message where the preacher said part of being excellent is deciding not to have sex before marriage even if the marriage is in two weeks time. Pursuit of holiness in spite of the prevailing culture is something that is still important to God.

That said, this videos says everything I don’t know how to communicate without offending the male folks or the female folks.

Like this:

So a couple of you probably got this post, I thought I could make mine a little more special than it already is by adding my thoughts.

This year, I have learned a lot. I have learned new things, I have struck new milestones. I feel thankful and grateful for 2015 and all that it unravelled about me.

I lost my dad this year. I believe that He has gone to be with God, even though for close to a month, I kept wondering if his life/living was perfect enough to make heaven. I gave up my perfectionism again, and decided that all that is needed is to confess, believe in the resurrection and trust in the Lord. I guess what he did so far was enough for salvation at least. I leave all the rest in God’s hand.

Of course with 2016 around the corner, I have written my goals/plans, spiritual, relationship, career, development, soul, business, financial, giving to God’s kingdom goals, giving of me to witnessing one on one, more this year than last year and opening my mind to the possibility of fulfilling a God-given assignment, if that is what God wills for me, I don’t want to say no, if God is saying yes.

I can safely say, that if God wants this life to serve someone else’s life then I will do my very best to place myself at God’s disposal, along with my heart, not kicking and screaming, enough of the kicking and screaming.

God isn’t holding me hostage. I chose God. I chose faith. I chose this life. I can’t always completely explain faith because every time I get new experiences and go on more faith adventures, that let me know that there’s always more on the plate than I think.

I love my family, perfect and imperfect.

I love social media a lot, it has its perks

SOME OF THE LESSONS I HAVE LEARNED

Not everyone will agree with you. Just make sure that you are willing to say what God wants you to say at all times and not your opinion. You are not your own, thus you don’t really have an opinion. You represent the King of kings

Family may not always agree with you but they will always love you

I met my cousins, many of them

I went to the village for the first time, kicking and screaming

I had to do the best I could to get along and not lift my snotty nose up. I am not a snob but I love to keep my circle as small as possible, only those that matter, not one person more.

I met my daddy’s siblings, I was very critical and I realise that sibling rivalry is not just in our generation, my daddy’s generation had it too.

Is it not sad how it is easier to understand and not criticize so much when one is dead. Don’t spend your time criticizing, just pray that the Spirit of God would always have the rule over you

Life is just never as easy as you want it to be

Hypocrites never mind their business, they also never make any impact for God. I want to always make an impact for God and have the gospel written on human hearts and not in pages of the bible

I’m willing to dream again

I am willing to open my heart up to God again and again because I realise that I might grow cold after some knocks again

I asked a question in my heart and a morning devotion daily no matter how short it is, is the answer.

I pray for grace to commit and be consistent in my morning devotion

So here’s my blog report for the year:

Yes, it wasn’t what I expected but I am saying thank you to all my referrers, followers and the people who enjoy the blog and follow the blog and so receive the blog in email. Please, click on my link once in awhile.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 860 times in 2015. If it were a cable car, it would take about 14 trips to carry that many people.

Blogging:
I love blogging. I sometimes am not in touch with my emotions or thoughts until I have blogged. It helps me put my worry on paper and give it to God. Blogging helps me articulate my thoughts. I love writing. I love finding out what I think. If I am angry. What is going on subconsciously in my thought life.

On the word versatile:

Hmmm!
I clicked the pronunciation so I can be sure I’m getting it right. I like flexible and able to adapt. It looks good on me; those words.

I was nominated by Blessing. Her blog title is BlessingShares and she does share. I have never met her physically but she comes across as warm. I perceive she’s a resilient soul winner. Her follow up is good. She writes very interesting content targeted at developing you spiritually, career, work, basically fulfilling the reason you were made. Her blog is at http://www.blessingshares.wordpress.com

Thank you Blessing for nominating me. I’m honored to be picked.

Here areThe Rules:

Thank the person who gave you this award.
Include a link to their blog.
You could include their names too.
Nominate 15 deserving bloggers you discovered recently for the Versatile Blogger Award — you should include a link to this site.
Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself
…And answer the question of the day, if you may.
Do the above for your own nominees. Display the award on your Blog

What can I say about me? I don’t usually talk about myself. I think sometimes my inadequacies overwhelm me. Feels like the teenage years again. Well I look beyond those inadequacies to my uniqueness.

1. About Temperaments:
I’m a melancholy. Artistic, sacrificial, complete with the martyr complex. When I just got saved, I used to tell myself, Jesus has died already, and risen – there’s no need of any other. I’m dramatic. Conservative, not shy because I always manage to shed the shyness when I get on the stage to act and I’m a good one. The Holy Ghost had to do a great work in me sha, that’s all I’m saying for now. I had the melancholy weaknesses too. Always perfect, never wrong.
Let’s just say, I read the book (Why you act the way you do – by Tim & Bevery Lahaye) looked at the strengths of all the types and the weaknesses. I wrote down the strengths that I wanted and went for it. I wrote down the weaknesses and started praying to the Holy Spirit to help me eliminate the weaknesses. I hated the choleric traits but I found I needed some of its strengths so I read it too. That’s it for temperaments.

2. Laughter:
I don’t laugh. Strange abi.
I grew up used to winning. When I was winning I laughed uproariously, is that a word? When I wasn’t winning I crashed. I also had moods, I used to love saying, I’m moody (sounds very American abi). The Holy Ghost again worked here. I learned to say what I wanted to see and unsay things not consistent with God’s word. Living a Spirit controlled life is a must now.
I learned to laugh at the devil. Really it works. The guy has been disarmed but he’s moving around seeing who he can deceive, because he can’t deceive everyone especially if they are armed. So I laugh especially as Psalm 2 says, God laughs.
I laugh with friends and family and sometimes at myself. I don’t take myself too seriously.

3. About the Gospel and my Saviour Jesus Christ:
I am born again. I am born of the Spirit. I have been baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Did I seek the Holy Ghost?
Hmmm. Those days, I didn’t even trust Him. God wooed me, God drew me. God ministered to me. The Holy Spirit, He’s a comforter and that’s not just words. He’s more real to me than what I see with my eyes and touch with my hands. The saints must have been tarrying in prayer. The Holy Ghost used to direct me to scriptures I had never heard of, then he would send a Christian to come and teach me the specific scripture and what it means. I was like, this God takes me seriously o.

Yes o, I’m born again and proud of it.

The need for Corporate experience: I asked God for a year in a corporate office. The things that I learned are invaluable. I’m grateful for the time. So I’m learning to take my words seriously because God takes them seriously too. One of the things I learned is not to compromise on good excellent work, it speaks. So I don’t work so much if I’m tired, hungry or sleep deprived, it compromises excellence. Also never work at what you don’t love or enjoy doing.

5. Life taught me to write:The only thing I love to do more than write is read. I was journaling as early as 11. I wrote novels, books, drew cartoons. I love telling stories and listening to gist. I’m hardly a talker, I’m more of a thinker. I can be having 6 conversations in my head. I learned to speak pidgin so i could include it in my books. I ask questions from people I have never met to make mynovels or articles real.

6. The importance of Family:
My family is my #2. They are very important to me. I can do anything for them. I don’t defend myself. I don’t need to, I have a God who is committed to doing that. I defend family though. Precious family. I share faith, food, money, time, emotions etc.
My sister says, they don’t wash blood. I love my family. We serve God by choice not by default.

7. Life gave me a Passion:Passion has always been a part of me and causes.The Holy Ghost gave my passion direction. I’m passionate about God, sports and politics.

The passion shows up in the expression of my faith. In the fulfilment of purpose. In my judgment of what matters and what doesn’t.

https://hattylolla.com
She’s witty. She’s smart. She’s an engineering girl. She reminds me of one of my bffs, so bold and smart. She was always telling me things about boys, what they mean and what they are about. Miss her. She’s in Yankee.

https://boladisa.net
This guy is a married guy. Although he’s married he’s concerned about the gospel. Really surprising. And he doesn’t make funny passes or make you feel uncomfortable. Good blog too.

https://adedoyinjaiyesimi.wordpress.com
I met her on twitter I think. She has amazing posts, very edifying. If you want to grow into the measure of the fullness of the stature of Christ, visit her blog. She’s pretty authentic.

https://seunodukoya.wordpress.com
This guy is funny. His posts are annoying but I keep reading them. I believe he deserves a nomination. Even though the direction i’d go, when writing, is very different from the direction he takes. Am I controlling? Maybe a little. I believe in happy ever after and I’m not changing my mind.

https://adoptingjames.com
She writes abstract. It is a blog about a woman’s journey towards adoption. I can be intellectual and say I read it to gain perspective. Nope. I just liked the blog.

https://quietandkept.wordpress.com
She likes my posts a lot. I read all her posts from gmail but hardly comment. The disadvantage of having a mobile phone. It is sometimes difficult to comment. I love the posts anyway. She wrote an article on being fat and the rigours that go with it. I feel bad because I have made fun of a girl for being fat but only because she was rude to my eldest sis. She never forgot but she’s forgiven me because I can be so supportive.

https://selahafrikcom
They share gospel music and gospel artists making waves in Nigeria and general news. I believe their lips are filled with grace because they don’t gossip or complain.

https://imperfectivelyperfectlives.com
She has a very transparent blog where she shares on many things all in line with God’s word. She also loves the Holy Ghost. Her love for family is apparent on her blog too. She’s Frances.

https://chynanu.wordpress.com
She is a smart and dynamic individual and it comes across from her blog. She’s passionate about governance and empowerment. Incredibly intelligent.

https://hajelpitan.com
She has a beautiful soul, she impacts you just by speaking to you. She has the makings of a world changer. She’s warm and a huge influencer. Her blog is just like her. Warm and lively.You come away from her blog feeling empowered.

https://kingdomturf.wordpress.com
I want to be like this guy when I grow up. He’s so committed to God. He’s all those kind of people who carry out kingdom agenda and know what they are doing.

http://lifegiva2.com
This guy likes writing about sex. I always wonder why he likes tagging me on twitter with sex posts. They are not porn though. It is what Christians could read to prepare for marriage. I didn’t say practice o. You are on your own if you are headed in that direction.

I didn’t call everyone on my page. I wish I could. This blog post is hard work. I have spent more than a day composing adjusting, extracting links. It’s satisfying. So many awesome people have interacted with my blog and I am grateful to you all. Your likes, shares and comments are a huge deal to me.

Now my favourite part. Fav pictures of the week or er forthnight.

Yes. Share only in safe places. Those places exist. Ask me if you need a safe place to share.

If you are a woman, I’ll direct you to the right resources. If you are a man I will direct you to the right resources too. I have the privilege of knowing some awesome people whose boss is God. I’m working towards getting to that place where my boss is God and He is the One I should please.

Help me O God.

Some people are easy to move. Some are harder to love. God wants me to love both. By God’s grace I am getting there.

I’m taking a crash course on meekness and self control. I’ve been examining my life and I think I let some things go. I’m working on being more yielded to the Holy Spirit too.

What has been happening in my world?

My world is doing great by the grace of God. I carry my own atmosphere. When it comes to the world system though, they keep getting crazier. Adultery is legal in SA, Incest is legal in Germany; Gay marriage is legal in the US and all that.
Those laws don’t change the laws of God. Grateful for that. I am glad I know Jesus because I imagine how confusing it will be for those whose principles are not guided by God. They would eventually experiment and start being led by the enemy.

I love to please God. That is the one thing that was imparted to my spirit when I got baptized with the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Spirit you receive at new birth is for development of fruit. I need the Holy Ghost so much right now. If there’s something I desire so much, its fruit. I had a dream early this year or sometime last year about fruit on a tree and I know it has some significance to me. God is interested in fruit bearing and I should be too.

God wants me meek, kind, humble, full of faith, faithful, practicing goodness, long suffering, loving, joyful, patient, and all of those things

He expects these things to increase in my life and this is my focus for the week, month, the rest of the years, developing good fruit.

I desire to fulfil the purpose of God for my life more than anything. I am preparing for it daily by the grace of God. I pray for the breathe of the Holy Spirit on my plans. I’d gladly forfeit my plans for His any time as soon as I am certain of His will.

Response to gay marriage:

Some people say, walk in love.
Some people declare their stand.

I don’t hate gay people. I hate the fact that they are influenced by the devil.

I pray daily to continually remain under the influence of the Holy Ghost. Without the Holy Ghost, without God’s presence in my life I would be just flesh and be like the rest of the world. I want to be like God, live like Jesus, be conscious of heaven and that it is my home daily. I am a visitor on the earth living amongst people who need a saviour. My heart goes out to them and I must have a corresponding action to that compassion. I must do all I can to reach them, invite them to church to meet with Jesus, give them a chance at salvation by telling them about the man who was God who came to the earth on a mission to grow up and die and a cross. The price of redemption is great. Let me share it. I receive grace to do so.

So which response is right?
Which one is wrong?

Some of my favorite pics for this week are:

I’m a new creation
Conscious of being in God’s family
A citizen of heaven
I’m born of God
Yes, I’m living the Christ life, no longer my own.

I’ve been teaching my sis this. Just because you’re angry doesn’t mean you can use words that don’t edify.

Words destroy
Words build
You’re a king and a priest
Stay conscious of what you are saying daily
God expects you to be a good steward of your words.

I want to be like Jesus all of the time.
So help me God.

Miracle are gotten and kept words
Everything you need is already inside you
Because the Holy Ghost is living in you.

If you’re born again God’s Spirit lives in you.
If you’re not, email me at tessadoghor@gmail.com and I’ll help meet the best person you will ever meet forever.

I got this from a Christian friend of mine. They are action plans to act what you believe. She trains me in certain areas.

Faith: acting what you believe.

I’m a citizen of heaven, yay!

Yes I do.
I can never love Jesus like He loves me but I love Him as much as I can right now.

Unconditional love.

God’s word

Hearing God happens naturally.
It started with waking me daily for prayer meeting cos I used to love my sleep so much.
#Grace #Discipline

Glad.

Yes.
God has been good.
Tough month but I have seen so much good that He’s done, I’m amazed

I would gladly live daily amazed because God has shown me The wants to do me good daily.

Like this:

What success feels like!
It will take you down many roads, it is your prerogative to be selective and chart your course according to divine handwriting still.

I believe success is doing whatever God has asked you to do to the best of His ability.
You’re not called to do it yourself
You’re called to do it with Him.

Lovely picture. It speaks to my soul.

Being present all the time is priority. I’m extending my boundaries daily
Taking more territory by God’s grace.
Preparing daily also.

On a set somewhere in Lagos
I posted this on my Instagram account.
(tessadoghor)

Some books I saw on facebook. I have read 6 of the 9. Who has read them all?

I be voracious reader. It is a blessing and sometimes a trial. Others things suffer cos I prioritise reading.

Friends, sisters, brothers, parents, those who matter.

I want to make a difference and leave my mark in the sands of time. Gaining momentum, yes I am.

I’m currently walking in love.
You wouldn’t know it just to see my life right now.
You know how the devil always tries to convince you that love aint in your spirit. Yeah, he’s doing that so I’m pressing because I know greater is He that is in me.
My spirit is loaded. I know that. I am who God says I am, I have what He says I have. I can do what He says I can do
I’m fully persuaded.

Thankful for His mercies and everlasting love. I am connected to God. I’m attached to His vine and I’m supplied by the river of God.

Ciao

I say make I blog. Wetin
Night is as good as day, even better for me.

I make connections for varying reasons. Over the years, I have perceived that while some connections build you up, some tear you down. It may be weird but I feel energised just talking to some people and weakened/attacked just talking to some others.

This life we live, it is more than ordinary eye. I’m like, maybe words are right but intentions aren’t right and probably that’s a check in the spirit.

You know, the spirit of God is our standby and He communicates with our spirit so that we know when to pray, what to pray about, who to call, when and why? I pray for more sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

Like this:

dance, sing, laugh, hang out with friendsYes. but it is also the time when you give back.

Most people know me as a social media enthusiast, I call myself a social media manager and I am pretty good at it. All you need to do is tell me what you want and I will get it done as long as the resources are made available so it was one of those days, actually yesterday and I was scanning through twitter (One of the smartest things a social media enthusiast/manager should master is social listening; simply put, what is everyone talking about?) So I saw this tweet here.

I immediately jumped into ‘voltron’ mode to defend honest Nigerians honour. I always want to proof that we are not all into the corruption thing so I began defending her honour blindly.

See here:

I was just wondering aloud why anyone would want to seat in the middle of dustbin to promise to give people bag of rice. Lo and behold, some lady that CNN.com honored recently jumped in and gave the woman a compliment. I was like ‘reverse’ read that again.

I know a lot of honest Nigerians doing great things, I used to work for a magazine company five years ago and I interviewed her and she’s really amazing. So I was like, see what politics does to our people. Then I went back to read the tweet. She’s asking for people to donate bags of rice/garri so that she can feed the people who can’t afford to. This is a good cause. I instantly started making amends. See her twitter account here.

Some other Nigerians are giving clothes to the northern children who are refugees in Nigeria. Her name is Hajara Pitan. I don’t have much money to give so I volunteered my time and talent. I am bringing the information so that as you plan all your Yankee/Jand trips, outings, comedies, dramas and parties you will be going to, add this one. They need clothes to transport to the north. You can reach her through this blog or her Facebook account, just send an inbox or add a comment (Please all clothes must be in good condition, use ya church mind). There’s even a giveaway going on, what can I say? December is the month of all-round, widespread generosity.

I have another fellow bloggerwho does a food drive. They give out cooked food and raw food and vegetable oil just to make life better for the ordinary man on the street. You can give here too. Her name is Ohlumayowa and she’s an OAP. Check her for her blog or Facebook accountor her twitter account.

Please give to the building of your church. I do that a lot. You can also give to the building of my church. God recognizes those things.

If you want to give to the building of my church (we are giving currently) email me at tessadoghor@gmail.com. I am not collecting cash o, I am sending you the account number. After you are done, you can email me the scanned teller so that I can submit it and the church will pray for you. More importantly though God will recognize your giving. I bear witness that God sees and speaks. It is not by force o, it is by choice so that you give cheerfully and get the rewards attached.

This is what Christmas is about! This is the kind of Christmas I love where you have been so blessed that you just want others blessed. Keep your heart open jare and your soul fed, there is a satisfaction that comes from doing the word.

“When I was hungry, you fed me…”

“If you give in the name of a prophet, you get a prophet’s reward…”

And if you are not a Christian, you can still give out of the kindness of your heart, Cornelius giving got him noticed by God and God sent one of His sons to Him and they received the Holy Ghost and you can never go wrong giving. But please check your motives, it is not sara (juju things), we are giving because we are blessed by God and that is why we ‘have’ to give.

If you are still thinking of being an entrepreneur and you don’t now the first thing about it, let me give you a little push. Visit this site and start learning everything you need to know to become a successful business person.

Like this:

I am not quite sure what this shade of blue is but it is amazing and irresistible.

I got invited for the iWOW Zumbathon event. What were my gains? At least 2 weeks before I was checking my boobs regularly. I actually learned how to check my boob via one of the newsletters. Join the subscribers at http://www.i-wow.org.

I checked my boob but was certainly not going to let anyone else (man or woman, it makes no difference to me, it’s my body) do so. I was at the Zumbathon which held at Oriental Hotel Beautiful place.

Oriental Hotel

There were a lot of stars present even though I didn’t recognize some people on ground. People like Yinka Davies, Foluke Daramola and Chioma Chukwuka. I was star searching so bad because I was taking pictures of stars specifically and of everyone there; it was so much fun.

Julius Agwu: He's a professional

I love his movie Mr & Mrs, he and Nse Ikpi Etim were dynamite. I don't usually watch Nollywood movies but they were good together, stunning artistes.

No shakara jare, I got a pic with Julius the genius who was gonna be governor of PH, he seemed ready, maybe 2019 then.

This dragon fly moment was priceless!

Well that’s that. Next post, I’ll update you on what else happened there!

Like this:

Loved this song from this morning. It communicates what is in my heart clearly.

God makes beautiful

Before I met God I was beautiful but not real, I was glass

Now I am clay, beautiful clay because of the treasure on my inside…

My beauty is undefinable because I don’t even know the totality of it

Every day is a revelation of who I could be in God’s hands

I am thankful today for the Holy Ghost and that He doesn’t leave me even when I act like I would rather He left me alone

He knows that I don’t mean it but my desire to control everything gets the better of me

So today I am thankful for the person of the Holy Ghost and the roles that He plays in my life

and how He counsels me even when I feel that stubborn feeling cropping up

and how He constantly constantly leads me and how He is always on time.

I am grateful for truth that the Holy Ghost gives because constantly I am reminded of how weird my thinking is when I talk to others and get to know what they really think and how far it is from God’s truth.

It just helps me value godly counsel over and over again

I am not afraid to be different or ashamed of being different instead by grace I embrace who I am and who God has made me and how He has guided me over the years and still guide me.

I am thankful for 4th September 2001 and 9th of April 2009 and all the dates that the Holy Ghost makes special because He gives me illumination and understanding, my wonderful grey matter as precious as it is could never accomplish what the Holy Spirit has accomplished in my life and is still doing.

When I talk with others time and again I realize how crazy my dreams seem but I serve the God who can make those dreams come true. He is both the giver and the fulfiller of dreams.

Sometimes when I considers other people’s reality I know how humbled I feel and I can get it when the angels say “what is man that God is mindful?”

It is not beef but wonder but God is so much more than I could ever fully comprehend because no matter how much I think I know Him and I do know Him, I could never know Him finish; there is always more in God.

More…

Just thankful for the gift of today and what God would want to do with it, I open my heart to the Lord to do His will by grace.

Cheers

PS I never start out to be so so spiritual but I cannot deny who I am or pretend to be like anyone else on the earth, I am not, I am unique because God knows my name and He cared enough to let me find Him…

This is #blessed the way God has revealed Himself to me, this is the #blessed that I know to have access and to know God’s presence. What could compare?

By God’s grace, I pray that I would stop trying to blend with the crowd and live, truly LIVE and let the treasure; the Holy Ghost shine through.

I was beauty but I never really felt beautiful until I knew the Holy Ghost. He opened my eyes to see me for who I am in Him. That is #blessed knowing God as He is.